The chatter around town? A wicked winter's on the way.

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The almanac prognosticators, who are accurate nearly 95 percent of the time, according to their own studies (conducted, no doubt, while they’re knocking back a few), see a very cold and snowy season ahead. For example, on Oct. 1, it had dropped to 1 below zero in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon, and the average temperature predicted for November is 21 below. So, if you were planning a trip to the Yukon . . . maybe not this year.

Here in the Lower 48, it will be “bitterly cold” for much of the winter, according to the almanac, with below-normal temperatures and above-normal snowfall.

One specific dismaying prediction: Super Bowl Sunday will be “snowy and stormy.” The game, which will be played in New Jersey, may be one for the record books — weather-wise.

But the news isn’t all bad. The Quadrantids meteor shower will take place in the predawn hours of Jan. 4, and we will be able to see 25 meteors per hour. Of course, it will be so cold that we won’t be able to stay outdoors, but we can look through the windows.

Also, the almanac predicts auspicious days for conducting the chores in our daily lives. For example, a good day to start losing weight is Oct. 24. We missed the best day for castrating animals, which was last week, but the best day for making sauerkraut will be next Tuesday.

As I write, we’re experiencing a full moon, known in October as the Hunter’s Moon. The moon will be full again on Nov. 17, and in December it will be full again on the 17th. Useful info for werewolf trackers.

According to the almanac, we enjoyed a Blue Moon in August, and won’t see another one until July 31, 2015. A Blue Moon is a second full moon in one month.

I don’t know if we can really pick an “auspicious” day for cutting our hair, as the almanac suggests, but I do believe that our lives become richer when we observe nature’s signs and ready ourselves for changes ahead.

Sid Tanenbaum, who lived in Woodmere and owned a metal-stamping shop in Far Rockaway, where he was known more for his charitable ways than his two-handed set shot, has been honored for the past 30 years with a basketball tournament that raises scholarship money for students in the Five Towns.